Pardy on Canada-U.S. border deal

Former Canadian diplomat Gar Pardy critiques the Canada-U.S. border deal announced on December 7th (Gar Pardy, “How the U.S. blackmailed Canada,” Ottawa Citizen, 8 December 2011):

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama announced Wednesday a 32-point plan establishing an agenda for improvements to cross-border goods and services traffic. In exchange, Canada will provide the United States with personal information on millions of Canadians and become part of a North American security zone.

Fundamentally, the consensus signals Canada signing on to the American-centric view of the world on security matters. In the process, Canadian security institutions will be more closely integrated with those of the United States. [...]

In the announcement yesterday, Canada sold its national security independence in exchange for hoped-for minor changes to American border restrictions.